O9A History

For a long time, the traditions were divulged on an individual basis – from Master or Mistress to Initiate. An ‘Order’ as such did not exist. There was only, at any one time, a few Adepts who taught a few pupils over a long period of time.

It was not until the sixth decade of this present century that this pattern changed. Hitherto, the tradition was secret and secretive, and prospective pupils were subject to severe tests and ordeals, of a physical, mental and magickal nature. The traditions were oral, with one or two exceptions. These being concerned with certain magickal rituals and Esoteric Chant. But even these were written in code or in symbolic/magickal scripts devised to conceal them from non-Initiates.

The tradition itself concerned: a) certain rites and ceremonies of ‘Black Magick’ – e.g. The Ceremony of Recalling; The Sinister Calling; the Rites of Nine Angles [Note: These are later titles for what was without title]; b) certain beliefs/legends relating to the Dark Gods; c) certain methods which were believed to be necessary for the achievement of Adeptship [e.g. what later became known as the ‘Grade Rituals’]; d) certain esoteric knowledge e.g. Esoteric Chant, the septenary system of correspondences; e) certain practices of a sinister nature [described in MSS such as ‘Culling’; ‘Guidelines for the Testing of opfers’].

There was also a belief which later became known as ‘The Sinister Dialectic of History’ – an attempt to understand Aeons and the rudiments of what later became Aeonic Magick.

Occasionally, ceremonial rituals were undertaken for specific purposes at which most, if not all, those who belonged to the tradition participated in. Sometimes, this was so few that others had to be recruited, subject to the usual tests and so on. But this ‘recruitment’ was for a specific purpose, and was not general policy.

In the sixth decade of this present century this, however, changed – under the guidance of the Mistress who then represented the tradition. She formed several ceremonial groups, all autonomous. These, however, were never large, and the combined number of people in these groups never exceeded thirty. A few of the individuals so recruited came from existing Black Magick or Left Hand Path groups (such as the OTP, the Temple of the Sun, and the Black order). Due to this change, some structure was given to the tradition – and a name, in addition to those already existing which served to identify the adherents of this tradition. The existing descriptive names were ‘traditional Satanism, the septenary system, and hebdomadry. The new name, adopted by the Mistress, was the Order of Nine Angles. The autonomous groups also adopted their own names, as sub-Temples within the order. One of these was ‘Camlad’; another was ‘The Temple of the Sun’ (nearly all the members of what had been called by this name had joined the ONA).

Over the next few years, Order sunedrions were held, and ceremonial Initiations undertaken. This continued for some more years, after the Mistress had retired. Her decision was the result of a sinister strategy – to undertake specific acts of sinister magick of a ceremonial kind; to increase the number of genuine Adepts and create temporal forms to direct certain magickal energies and so provoke certain changes, preparing the way for the next stage.

However, the reality was somewhat different from the theory. Some quality had been lost. There was a concentration on the external aspects of magick as against the internal and the aeonic. Accordingly, after some more years, the person who then represented the Order, disbanded the groups, and returned to traditional methods. The methods themselves were refined and extended, and it became the practice for External Adepts to form and manage their own Temple, with complete freedom. Further, a decision was taken to gradually make available all the traditions of the Order together with the new techniques developed.

The new techniques included ‘The Star Game’. The Grade Rituals were revised, and further methods developed, together with a comprehensive theoretical system to explicate the true nature of both the methods and magick itself. Thus, a purely practical system of training was created, which made Adeptship and the Grades beyond available to anyone. This system was called ‘The Seven-Fold Way’ [later ‘The Seven-Fold Sinister Way]. The basis of this system was described in an Order MS entitled ‘Naos’.

According to tradition, the traditions themselves, inherited by the present Grand Master from the Mistress who Initiated him, were said to be a survival of what has been called ‘The Third Way of Magick’; a survival from the civilization which flourished in Albion. These traditions were limited to a certain geographical area. This was bounded in the north by the Stiperstones; in the West by the Long Mynd; in the east by that neolithic pathway now known as the Kerry Ridgway; and in the south by the river Clun.

This, however, is only a tradition, with no direct evidence to support it.

Such, briefly, is the ‘history’ of the ONA. At present, the function of the Order is to: (a) guide suitable individuals towards and beyond Adeptship; (b) work Aeonic magick in accord with sinister strategy; (c) implement, via various tactics, that strategy.One tactic used over the past few years, is making the tradition itself accessable, as well as the new developments which have extended and refined that tradition, forming the practical system mentioned above.